January 18, 2012

6 Million Dollar Spider: Ferrari F1 Simulator

That Darth Vader looking thing you see is Ferrari's Formula 1 simulator, the real one not the rFactor Pro powered one they will build for special clients for 350000 Euro...if they like you.
No, that's the famous 5 Million Euro simulator built for the 2010 season. I had never seen pictures of it until these.

A 5 million simulator of course is the result of Formula One cost cutting measures with the elimination of most testing. That's why we love F1: Why $6M simulator? Because cost savings!

In any case, simulation is now fully a part of racing, be it Sebastien Buemi getting a job as a Red Bull Racing reserve driver based on his simulator skills or the Gran Turismo 5 gamer team scoring a podium finish at the recent 24 Hours of Dubai.

Driving a fully professional simulator is no easy task and not for everyone, Autosprint, who published these pictures, tells how Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer was not able to do it because he would get nauseous. But before you laugh at Badoer again, consider even Schumacher is said to get queazy in motion sims.

Inside the 4000lbs sphere suspended 15 feet above the ground, is an actual 2010 Ferrari F150 just without engine and wheels. The driver is blasted by a massive sound system and facing a 180 degree 3D high definition projection.

I don't know if Maranello's Moog actuated carbon fiber spider is still the best, I believe that honor goes to Toyota Gmbh but the fact pictures are available and Ferrari has invited a journalist to drive the big machine tells me that perhaps there is something new around the corner.

19 comments:

I've driven Toyota Motorsport GmbH's sim on two separate occasions, and boy was it fun! Apparently Truli couldn't handle the motions either, but I didn't have any problems... Proving it's not related to driving skills whatsoever ;-)

TMG's sim "only" has a 180° screen, but is also mounted on 6 hydraulic arms.

That is an issue with all these mechanical simulators, they cannot generate constant loads. However this one makes use of belt tensioners to simulate braking forces. Sustained Side loads though are not possible.

That's the thing. They don't simulate the "average" longitudinal and lateral Gs while turning, breaking, etc.; as you pointed out, you'd be limited to 1G anyway. What you do get, however, is the "instantaneous" changes of acceleration (2nd order terms, if you will).

Put plainly, you do feel the curbs, and sudden changes of attitude caused by braking, turning,etc but not the braking or turning itself.

The most surprising, for me, was the force feedback in the steering... After 10 min of sim, my wrists started to be painful.

Honestly I think as time goes on, and as simulators get more and more realistic, I think teams will be looking more and more to develop and test new F1 drivers on simulators. The fact that you can still get an infinite amount of time in the car, and can still work with engineers to make changes to the car to see how they suit your driving style or how they help the car is HUGE in terms of driver development and getting them to find a car that drives how they do.

As time goes on, and as racing gets even more and more expensive, just imagine how many more Senna's or Shumi's we are missing out on simply because they dont have the funds to keep racing, or to get the equipment they need to win races at a young age.

You can clearly see that the Ferrari screen is only 180' in the interior shot. http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6718431821_e6bee74c61_o.jpgIn the video, you can also see right through the frame of the machine and see that there is only 180' of screen.Also, it could deliver more than 1G of acceleration, since it's dependent on how fast those hydraulic actuators are.They could also simulate constant loads up to 1G by tilting the machine left/right or forward/back. Though they may only be able to tilt it enough for 0.5G

I'd love to know how far they go with these simulators and how accurate the setup changes are to the real world. I guess simulating a setup change would be based on a physical model and probably effects recorded from real life telemetry, but I wonder how accurate are they.. so many variables..

The TGM Sim has been delivered by XPI Ltd and equipped with a high fidelity electric motion system of Bosch Rexroth Motion Simulation Technology. Contact them for more technical information on this Sim.Good guys!Berini